A friend tells The Sun newspaper: "Just months after needing to be looked after round the clock, Michael became the carer.

"He has been treating Catherine to romantic dinners, spa treatments and lots of emotional support."

The Hollywood star has apparently promised his wife a round the world trip to give her something to look forward to.

Also looking out for the actress' well-being are her parents Patricia and David, who have flown to New York to help look after their grandchildren Dylan, ten, and seven-year-old Carys.

Before she spent five days in a treatment centre, Catherine is said to have gone back to see her family, who live in the Mumbles area of Swansea. After two days she returned to seek help.

The brunette beauty's spokeswoman says her client is now "feeling great" and looking forward to starting work on two new films.

Catherine - pictured below with her family at Buckingham Palace in February, when she received a CBE - is set to star opposite Gerard Butler in football comedy Playing The Field and will play Bruce Willis' wife in Lay the Favourite.

Catherine reportedly admitted herself to the £770-a-night Silver Hill Hospital, a psychiatric facility in the New Canaan countryside of Connecticut. Those who have been treated there include Michael Jackson , Liza Minelli and Michael Jackson.

Months ago she alluded to her struggles with depression when she spoke of being enveloped by a "dark cloud" during an interview.

She said: "I'm lucky, but that's not to say I don't get down on myself. I try and stay positive. I don't just bring myself down, I bring everyone else down. It's like a dark cloud, 'Uh oh, here we go', and I have to snap out of it."

The same month she made the comments, Michael was diagnosed with cancer. And the stress of her husband's subsequent cancer battle is said to have been the trigger for her problems.